Russia's Kalashnikov Group Unveils AK-200 Family of Assault Rifles at IDEX-2019

Russian firm Kalashnikov has unveiled a new family of assault rifles, AK-200 at the ongoing IDEX-2019 event in United Arab Emirates.

Kalashnikov is eyeing to market its products at the exhibition well. Rostec is in talks with the Saudi government to produce its Kalashnikov rifle.

"The Saudi government is pushing for 90% localisation of the parts. Rostec hopes to conclude negotiations before the end of this month," Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec was quoted by The National as saying.

“Export permits for the newest Kalashnikov AK200 series assault rifles have been obtained. From now on, Rosoboronexport may offer its partners the AK200, AK203, AK204 and AK205 versions, which will make their international debut at IDEX-2019,” Rosoboronexport director general Alexander Mikheev said on the Rostec website before the event began.

According to Kalashnikov, the new assault rifles are designed to replace the AK-100 family and the organic firearm of the Russian military, Kalashnikov AK-74M.

The new family of small arms fires the most popular cartridges including 5.45×39 mm M74 (the AK-200 and AK-205), 7.62×39 mm M43 (the AK-203 and AK-204) and 5.56×45 mm STANAG 4172 (the AK-201 and AK-202). The AK-200 series comprises three assault rifles (the AK-200, AK-201, and AK-203) and three carbines (the AK-202, AK-204, and AK-205).

The AK-200 5.45 mm assault rifle is the baseline firearm of the AK-200 family. The assault rifle is 705 mm/880-940 mm long (with folded/unfolded telescopic stock, respectively), weighs 4.1 kg with empty magazine, and is fitted with a 415 mm barrel. The AK-200 is fed by 30-round polymer magazines that are interchangeable with previously developed bakelite and plastic box-type magazines of the AK-74 and AK-74M. The new firearm features a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute and fires in automatic and semi-automatic modes.

Unlike the AK-74M, the members of the AK-200 family are fitted with Picatinny rail interfaces for sight and tactical accessories, folding telescopic buttstocks, and ergonomic pistol grips. The organic muzzle brake has been replaced by a slotted one. The cleaning rod has been removed in order to facilitate installation of an under-barrel grenade launcher.